Saturday, October 01, 2011

Telepsychiatry is here to solve the bureaucracy of getting a prescription:

This is the greatest example to expose how psychiatry is being done.

Why go to your doctor to get a prescription?They prescribe in 15 minutes the first time and the other consultations are done in five minutes, time to say "How you're doing"/ "Fine."/ "Need prescription of what medicines?"/ "Seroquel, Paxil, Geodon/Abilify/Klonopin and Cymbalta" / he writes... "Here they are, see you next month!" "Bye"Do it by phone!

"Our focus is on Prevention. We look for patterns, predict relapse before it happens, and reduce harm. Our goal is to significantly reduce the need for psychiatric hospitalization. We believe that if you can get high quality psychiatrists on staff quickly and have patients seen quickly, then you avoid gaps in medication management appointments and gaps in medication refills thereby reducing the risk of decompensation. Our goal is to focus on preventing a crisis." (emphasis added)How do I request an appointment?The initial appointment is free and consists of approximately five to ten minutes. The first few mintues are simply to check for technical difficulties with the telconferencing (sic) interface. Then you have a few minutes to ask the doctor questions about training and experience, and the doctor has a few minutes to ask you about your mental health needs. Then you and the doctor can decide if you think there could be a good "fit" and the decision can be made to either proceed with booking a full intake evaluation or to refer you to other resources. At present, the majority of our doctors restrict themselves to managing medication and providing brief supportive psychotherapy. (emphasis added)

Drs Schaeffer and Blumenfield have extensive experience in psychotherapy and do take non-medication patients. However, psychiatrists have more training and therefore charge more for services than would a family therapist or a psychologist. It is our goal to help you in the best way possible, and therefore, if during the initial converstation (sic) it is determined that you can have your needs met through a less expensive means, then that will be the recommendation.On the form below, please provide the days and times that work best for you for appointments and the best times to call you to set up an appointment. In the "Purpose of the Appointment" section, please provide a brief summary of the reason you are seeking psychiatric care and also provide the full name and phone number of your Primary Care Physician. You must indicate if you will be using a PC or a Mac computer to do the teleconferencing. For an appointment, you can also contact us toll free at1-888-542-2103 (staff is available 24/7/36).Testimonial“That was awesome!” 12 year old patient upon exiting his first telepsychiatry visit—Fresno, CA. (emphasis added)